


I can't hear you

by anactoriatalksback



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: Butt Plugs, Choose Your Own Ending, Jared being coaxed into saying what he needs, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Richard putting the cart well before the horse, Semi-Public Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 23:55:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15874311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anactoriatalksback/pseuds/anactoriatalksback
Summary: Make yourself small, he thinks. Inconspicuous. It’s easier for them to protect you. It’s easier for them to keep you safe.There’s only so much he can do with his body, all legs and wrists and ears and angles. But his voice is soft. He can fold like a Manila envelope. And if he clamps his lips shut, it’s like he was never there.And if he’s quiet – if he’s there where he’s needed but never demanding more – then maybe he’ll be allowed to stay.





	1. Chapter 1

Jared is used to being a secret.

‘Don’t tell the others.’

‘Just…just be cool, okay?’

‘No I, uh, I’m just, uh, hanging out with uh. But, uh, you, you wanna come by after?’

 _It’s better this way_ , he thinks. Like he’s a spy.

He tells himself it’s a compliment. Like he’s buried treasure that Justin or Marcus or Stephanie want to protect. Being included is wonderful, of course it is, but this? This is _exclusive_.

Which is better still.

It is.

They’re afraid he’ll be stolen, he tells himself. It’s – smart, he thinks. He knows what happens when you show them what you love.

 _That’s what it is_ , he tells himself. _They’re protecting you_.

 _It’s nice to be protected_ , he tells himself. _It’s nice to be treasured_.

This is what it feels like.

 _Make yourself small_ , he thinks. _Inconspicuous. It’s easier for them to protect you. It’s easier for them to keep you safe._

There’s only so much he can do with his body, all legs and wrists and ears and angles. But his voice is soft. He can fold like a Manila envelope. And if he clamps his lips shut, it’s like he was never there.

No sounds for Justin to cover up. No moans or sighs to incriminate Marcus. Nobody need ever know what – whom – they were capable of. Where they gave and took their pleasure.

 _It’s nice to be a secret_ , thinks Jared.

It’s nice to be _Richard’s_ secret.

When they come together, Jared feels like he’s drowning. Suffocating in disbelief, in trembling awestruck rapture, in a profound still-waking gratitude.

Richard, his Captain, his impetuous impossible shining star, Richard who tears through the world with fierce eyes and bitten lips, Richard who could trap the sun in his curls, _Richard_.

Richard…Richard must be….protected.

Jared will curl in on Richard, ward off the evil eye, the prying glares that would smirch his beautiful thin cheek, the coarse braying voices that would flay his lovely skin.

And who coarser than Jared? Jared with his elbows and his knees and his foolish, begging smile. Jared who is suffered to be near his lodestar, to touch him, to despoil him?

To suffocate him in his own shameful, insistent corporeal presence.

Too long, too much space, too much, too much, too _much_.

 _Hard to deny_ , thinks Jared. _Hard to hide. So much_ to _hide._

But Jared’s had a lifetime’s experience of it. He’s learned, now, the ways of stillness, of silence, of quiet, even breaths.

 _Ghostlike features_ , he thinks. Jared could be a ghost. A friendly, unobtrusive ghost.

And if he’s quiet – if he’s there where he’s needed but never demanding more – then maybe he’ll be allowed to stay.

‘Jared?’

Richard sounds tentative, a little worried. He’s gnawing at his bottom lip.

‘What is it, Richard?’

Richard fidgets, blinks, gently puts away Jared’s arms and sits up. He turns around to face Jared.

‘When we’ he begins. Coughs. ‘When I. Do. Stuff. In. When we.’ He’s turning red. ‘In – Christ – in bed, Jared. When we. Is it’ he squeezes his eyes shut and hurries on ‘Is it. Okay? For you?’

It’s Jared’s turn to blink. ‘Richard?’

What is Richard asking? How could he even begin to doubt – Richard, his brilliant blazing morning star with his tumbling curls and his thin clever fingers, Richard whose skin burns Jared with the most exquisite engulfing heat, _Richard_.

Jared’s opening his mouth to speak when Richard shakes his head. ‘I. I know you’re gonna – Jared, I, please, I want you to, y’know, take this. Seriously.’ He swallows. ‘Be honest. Is – is it – good for you?’

‘Richard,’ says Jared. He sits up. His Captain is in pain. What can Jared do, how best can he help, ‘Richard, darling, it’s wonderful. _You’re_ wonderful.’ Richard blushes and wriggles, the shadow of a gratified little smile twitching on his lips, and Jared says ‘Oh, Richard, you never need to ask.’

And he’s said the wrong thing, because the smile’s gone. ‘I do,’ says Richard, ‘because you – Jared, you never make a sound. I can’t hear you, I never – I can’t _tell_.’

 _Oh_ , thinks Jared.

Well, this one’s easy.

All Jared has to do is to assure Richard that that’s just what he’s like. It’s true.

It’s _become_ true, at any rate.

Easily resolved.

So Jared’s not sure why he says ‘Oh, Richard, you needn’t worry about that.’

Richard’s face – that beautiful mobile face – freezes. Sharpens. He leans forward. ‘I do.’

‘I meant,’ says Jared, ‘Richard, I’m – I’m here _for you_. We don’t have to - ’

And Richard’s frown is deepening. He says, and he’s beginning to sound angry, ‘And – and not for – Jesus, Jared, are you – d’you think you’re - are you doing me a, a fucking _favour_?’

‘No!,’ says Jared, ‘no, no, please, Richard, I’m – Richard, if you knew how honoured I was that you’d even _consider_ me, I could never - ’

‘…Consider?’

This is all going so horribly wrong. ‘I don’t – Richard, there’s no – I don’t mean that you’re obliged to, I promise, you needn’t - ’

Richard’s lips are a very thin, flat line. He’s looking furious. He opens his mouth, looks at Jared, and something in him deflates. He licks his lips and says ‘Jared. What we’re doing. What do you want?’

What does Jared want? What a strange, cruel question. ‘I – Richard, I told you, you don’t have to - ’

‘What,’ says Richard, his eyes blazing, ‘do. You. Want?’

Jared falls silent. Thinks for a moment and can’t think of anything more than the truth. ‘What _you_ want.’

Richard exhales, a long pained noise. ‘Jesus, Jared, I - ’

‘Do you want me to make noises?,’ says Jared. ‘Please, Richard, I don’t understand, help me, I want to - ’

‘It’s not,’ says Richard, ‘fuck, it’s – Jared, I want to – do you _want_ to.’ He blushes. ‘In – in bed?’

Here again, it would be so simple to say ‘No, Richard, I’m quiet in bed, I always have been’. This can all go away.

But Jared, watching himself, hears himself say ‘It’s discreet.’

And Richard flinches, as though Jared’s spit on him. ‘Then I – Jared, am I too - ’

‘No,’ says Jared, horrified at himself. ‘Oh, Richard, darling, how could you – Richard, you’re _perfect_.’ He reaches for Richard and for a long, awful moment Richard stares down at his outstretched hand before sighing and putting his hand in Jared’s.

‘Discreet?’ says Richard.

‘Oh,’ says Jared. ‘Yes, Richard, discreet. Like a secret. It’s better, isn’t it?’

Richard’s staring at Jared, his lovely face doing a thousand things. Then he sighs and lies down, pulling Jared with him. Glowing, Jared wraps his arm around him and pulls him close.

As he nuzzles the tiny curls at the base of Richard’s neck, he hears Richard say ‘I really fucking hate everyone you’ve ever been with.’

‘Richard,’ says Jared, lifting his head, ‘darling, I told you, you don’t need to worry about them.’

‘That’s not what I - ,’ says Richard. ‘I mean – yeah. But more – I just. All of them.’

Jared brushes a kiss to the lovely tender spot behind Richard’s ear and Richard shivers, snuggling in closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next two chapters have alternate endings for this story, because I am an indecisive idiot. 
> 
> They end at fundamentally the same place, except Chapter 3 is...er.....pornier. Considerably so. So. Consider that a warning.


	2. Chapter 2

_As he nuzzles the tiny curls at the base of Richard’s neck, he hears Richard say ‘I really fucking hate everyone you’ve ever been with.’_

_‘Richard,’ says Jared, lifting his head, ‘darling, I told you, you don’t need to worry about them.’_

_‘That’s not what I - ,’ says Richard. ‘I mean – yeah. But more – I just. All of them.’_

_Jared brushes a kiss to the lovely tender spot behind Richard’s ear and Richard shivers, snuggling in closer._

* * *

 

The next morning, Richard asks Jared to call a team meeting. Jared’s puzzled: there’s nothing on his radar, and Richard’s attempts at _ex tempore_ speech – well, even Jared will admit that they do not inspire in quite the way they might be intended to.

But he complies, and soon there’s a crowd turning resentful half-attentive ears towards their CEO.

Richard has his hands jammed into his pockets. He’s twitching and blinking and Jared edges forward stealthily with a waste-paper basket, just in case. But he doesn’t seem to be nervous precisely, or at least there’s something else behind his eyes.

‘I, uh,’ begins Richard. ‘Er, thank you all for, uh, being here, which, you know, you should be anyway because, uh, we pay you, so. Not that, you know, we’re not one of those shitty corporate face-time anally-retentive shitweasel companies, so, y’know, so long as the, uh, job’s done? Which…’

‘…We’d love to get back to someday,’ says Dinesh. Gilfoyle snorts and Dinesh is about to turn on him when Monica says ‘Richard, I don’t want to rush you, but you’re right, we _do_ get paid to do a job here, so if you could just…’

‘Yeah,’ says Richard. ‘Right. Yeah. So. Er. So. Workplace…stuff? Is what I…workplace, like, uh, fraternising? Is…’

‘Is this about Tejas and Moriko banging? Because I mean….’

‘Not cool, man.’

‘Wait, you two did it? When?’

‘Can we not - ’

‘Boyfriends!,’ says Richard. Everyone’s head snaps around to look at him. He coughs and swallows. ‘Boyfriend. I have. Jared. Jared is my.’ He swallows again. ‘Yeah.’

The room falls away from Jared abruptly, and he doesn’t register how, if at all, the gang reacts. All he can see is Richard, looking sweaty and triumphant and then, immediately, as he looks at Jared, terrified.

‘Shit,’ he says, ‘shit. We never. Fuck. Jared, I never – do you. Fuck. Look. We – we’re – we, we do stuff. Okay. Like, N-Netflix and, and chill stuff. I mean. We do chill. With Netflix. That happens. We’re watching _Explained_ and like, but also. I mean. Like. The – er – other? Stuff? Like, you know,’ and here Richard makes distracted air-quotes, ‘”Netflix and chill”? That stuff? And like - ’

‘Richard, no,’ says Dinesh. ‘We don’t want to know.’ He looks over at Jared and shudders. ‘We _really_ don’t wanna know.’

‘But,’ says Richard, who clearly isn’t listening, ‘Jared, we didn’t - Okay, forget the boyfriend thing, we don’t - ’

‘Did you,’ says Dinesh, ‘tell us Jared was your boyfriend before you talked to Jared about it?’

‘Okay, maybe we should let them - ’ says Monica, putting a hand on Jared’s shoulder.

‘Yes,’ says Jared, loudly. ‘Please, Richard, yes, I’d be honoured.’

And over theatrical barfing noises, Jared moves to Richard’s side, smiling from ear to ear and still holding the waste-paper basket.

Richard’s grinning too, and red down to his neck. ‘I – you sure? It’s, look, I know, kind of a, a dick move to like, spring this on you in front of everyone, but I just - ’ he swallows, ‘I wanted them to. Wanted _you_ to. Y’know. Know. That they. Know, and I, uh.’ He looks up, fleetingly, before looking away. ‘I. Yeah.’

And Jared can feel the hope beginning to peep above-ground in his chest: a fragile, tremulous thing, feathers stiff and caked with blood. He thinks _I was invited here_. He thinks, as Richard’s hot hand circles his wrist, _That means something_. He thinks of space, and volume, and he thinks again _I was invited here_.

He thinks of secrets, and whispers, and thinks maybe they’re overrated.


	3. Chapter 3

_As he nuzzles the tiny curls at the base of Richard’s neck, he hears Richard say ‘I really fucking hate everyone you’ve ever been with.’_

_‘Richard,’ says Jared, lifting his head, ‘darling, I told you, you don’t need to worry about them.’_

_‘That’s not what I - ,’ says Richard. ‘I mean – yeah. But more – I just. All of them.’_

_Jared brushes a kiss to the lovely tender spot behind Richard’s ear and Richard shivers, snuggling in closer._

* * *

 

The next morning, as Jared’s getting ready to step into the shower, Richard says ‘Could you, uh.’

Jared turns to look at him. Richard’s plucking at the coverlet, red to his neck. ‘Could you,’ he says, ‘the – the plug. That you – you showed me? Could you’ and he looks, briefly, at Jared, before letting his gaze drop, ‘could you, uh, could you. Wear it? Today? At work?’

Jared’s eyes widen and he can feel his own cheeks heating, but he nods.

* * *

 

‘Meet me in the supply closet in five minutes,’ says the e-mail.

Jared navigates away from the window to his cap table spreadsheet. He can feel the colour rising in his cheeks, and breathes slowly, willing away the wash of pink. In five minutes precisely he rises from his chair and makes his way, as unhurriedly as he can, to the supply closet.

Richard spins around when he enters, eyes wide. He gulps when he sees Jared. ‘Lock the door.’

Jared does so, heart picking up speed.

Richard beckons Jared over, a little jerk of the hand. ‘Are you – d’you have it on?’ He coughs. ‘In, I mean. D’you have it in?’

Jared nods, cheeks hot. Richard lets out a little breath. ‘Good.’

Jared ducks his head, a little gratified smile on his lips.

Richard says ‘Show me.’

Jared’s hands go to his belt-buckle and Richard says ‘Shirt too. Off.’

Jared nods, unbuttoning his shirt. Quick movements, and then he’s untucking his shirt and taking it off. He folds the shirt neatly and places it on a shelf. It won’t do to emerge from the closet with creases and wrinkles. This little interlude is high-risk enough as it is.

Jared turns to find Richard regarding him with a fond little smile that makes Jared’s heart squeeze. He reaches inside his pockets and fishes out a condom and a small bottle of lubricant.

Richard’s eyes widen, and Jared hastens into speech. ‘It’s only a precaution, Richard, I promise I wasn’t expecting  - ’

‘Turn around,’ says Richard.

Jared takes in a very long breath before nodding shakily. He turns and takes off his trousers. He bends to retrieve them as they fall and folds them, putting them on top of his shirt.

‘Briefs too,’ says Richard quietly. Jared slips his thumbs underneath his waistband. He pushes off his briefs and lets them fall to his ankles. He shuts his eyes as the cool of the closet raises gooseflesh on his skin.

There’s a shuffling noise as Richard steps closer. Jared bends forward from the waist, allowing his spine to arch. There’s an intake of breath behind him.

‘Spread – spread your legs.’

Jared does and there’s a little outward breath. Then hot shaking hands grab his ass, pulling his cheeks apart. Then one trembling finger jostles the plug, and Jared jumps, stifling a moan.

‘Stay still,’ says Richard. Jared nods. Breathes in. Breathes out. Grips the shelf in front of him tightly. Sucks in a breath as Richard’s hand returns to his ass, kneading and stroking. Bites his cheek to keep from crying out as those thin bony fingers prod and rub and massage, moving the plug inside him. Easing it out.

His muscles clench involuntarily around the plug, and Richard lets out a breathy chuckle. ‘Fuck, Jared. You just don’t wanna – just – let it go, Jared.’

Jared sighs. Makes himself relax. Watches himself breathe – in, out – as Richard’s fingers roll and stroke, as he feels the plug move and slide. Watches the whine rise in his throat and strangles it.

Not well enough, because Richard leans closer. Jared can feel hot puffs on the back of his neck as Richard says ‘What was that?’

Jared shakes his head. Breathe in. Breathe out. Don’t make a sound.

Richard misunderstands the gesture, because he recoils. ‘I – shit, Jared, I’m so – fuck, I’m sorry, I - ’

‘No,’ says Jared, turning his head around. ‘No, please, Richard,’ and he remembers to lower his voice, ‘that’s not what I meant, I just – when you asked if I was saying something, that’s why I shook my head, because – _please_ , Richard.’

And Richard grins – a brief flash of relief – before he cocks his head. And Jared shivers at the look – speculative, predatory – in his eyes as he crowds in.

‘That’s right,’ he says. ‘You – you _never_ say _anything_ , do you, Jared?’

Jared stares at Richard, whose eyes are searching – _scouring_ – his face. ‘Turn around, Jared.’

Jared does so. Waits.

Gasps as one thin hand closes around his cock.

‘R-Richard! What - ’

A squeeze, almost painful. Jared’s belly hollows as he sucks in a breath. In. Out.

‘You – you like that?’

Jared nods, so hard his neck hurts. Lets his head fall onto his hand, clutching the shelf as Richard’s hand moves up and down.

Gasps again, wetly against his own hand, as Richard tugs at the base of the plug.

‘ _Oh_. Oh. Oh.’

‘Yeah,’ says Richard’s voice behind him, ‘yeah, give it up.’

And he pushes the plug back in. Hard.

Jared leaps, has to strike his chest with his palm to hold in – actually physically grapple with – the moan rising to his throat.

‘Stay,’ says Richard, fingers digging into Jared’s hipbone, ‘Jared. I’m not – not gonna tell you. Again.’

Jared nods. Gasps as Richard slaps his bottom once. Can’t prevent the whimper that escapes him as the plug shifts.

‘Understood?’

‘Yes,’ says Jared, and closes his eyes at the plea in his voice, ‘yes, Richard, yes, _yes_.’

‘Good,’ says Richard, and Jared feels those thin, bitten lips pressing against the back of his neck. He lets himself sigh, quietly, against his own hand. Lets himself arch up so the plug hits him just…right….

Bites his wrist as Richard eases the plug almost all the way out before feeding it back in, all while the other hand is moving rapidly, roughly, up and down Jared’s cock.

In. Out. In. Out. Richard’s hands are shaking and the pressure’s erratic, maddening. Jared can’t control the sluttish telltale rocking of his hips, but if he’s quiet, he thinks, if he’s quiet, if he doesn’t obtrude, then he can have this, they can have this, nobody need know, please, Richard, please…

When Richard’s hands fall away, abruptly, Jared spins around.

‘Richard?’

Richard’s undoing his fly. He looks at Jared with that bright sharp grin Jared loves so much, but instantly sobers. ‘Jared – Jared, what’s wrong?’

He reaches for Jared’s hand, and Jared looks down at the wicked little crescent moon his teeth have cut over his wrist.

‘Oh,’ says Jared, embarrassed, ‘darling, that’s not - ’

‘What – why are you - ’

‘It’s quieter,’ says Jared, ‘that’s all, Richard, I - ’ and his hands go to Richard’s fly, let me, let me…

Richard smacks Jared’s hands away. The grin is back, to Jared’s unspeakable relief. ‘Turn around.’

Jared hastens to oblige, and sighs in relief when he feels Richard’s breath on his back, that delicious familiar length rubbing against his buttocks.

‘You want this?’

Jared nods, eagerly. _He asked you_ , he tells himself, _you’re not, you aren’t urging, you’re allowed to say yes, you’re allowed, you’re allowed_. He lets himself push back against that sweet slide. Richard groans, the sound shockingly loud in the closet.

‘I – fuck. You want this?,’ and his hand’s back, squeezing Jared’s aching length.

Jared nods again, yes, _yes_.

‘Say it.’

Jared looks around at Richard. ‘Richard?’

Richard raises his head, eyes blazing. ‘ _Say it_.’

Jared licks his lips. ‘I – I want – _ohhhhh_.’

Richard’s jabbed in the plug, and Jared lets his head drop. As Richard drags it out and shoves back in, Jared bites desperately on the soft flesh above his wrist.

‘Right,’ Jared hears Richard say, ‘we – we gotta be quiet, don’t we, Jared?’

And before Jared can say anything, Richard continues ‘You can, can let me rub myself all over you, push that, that slutty little ass out, fucking, fucking beg for it, _but_ \- ’ and his thumb swipes once, hard, over Jared’s slit, ‘never _say_ it.’

Jared exhales against his wrist. Allows himself to bathe in the sweet twin torments of Richard’s one hand on his painful, leaking cock and the knuckles of the other pressing against his perineum, jostling the plug inside him.

Bites his lip ‘til he draws blood to keep from whining as Richard breathes into his ear ‘I could – you want me to, to fuck you with the plug?’ And Richard rotates the plug sharply inside Jared.

‘Nnnf,’ whimpers Jared.

‘I could,’ says Richard, that elusive glinting thread of mischief in his voice – a strange eldritch light in his darling that Jared rarely sees but would swallow whole if he could – ‘look, Jesus, Jared, look at that slutty little hole, you don’t wanna, fuck, you don’t wanna give it up, just, holding on so tight, you - ’

And Richard pulls the plug all the way out before jabbing it back in. Jared writhes, rolls his forehead against his wrist, thrusts into Richard’s palm (slide eased by his own precome), breathe, breathe.

‘Or maybe,’ continues Richard, hot wet puffs of breath in Jared’s ear, ‘I fuck you. Me.’

Jared nods, vigorously.

‘Yeah?’

Jared nods again.

‘Yeah?’

Another nod.

‘I can’t hear you.’

Jared swallows. Ekes out a whispered ‘Please. Please, Richard, _please_.’

The hand on Jared’s cock dips. Fumbles for Jared’s balls. ‘I can’t,’ and Jared smothers a gasp as hot, sticky fingers cup and squeeze, ‘ _hear_ you.’

‘Please,’ says Jared, ‘Richard, please, I need - ’

‘Yeah?’ and Richard’s hand returns to Jared’s ass, pulling and stroking, running the back of his knuckles against the scant flesh there. ‘But you still gotta be, be _discreet_ , yeah?’

‘Please,’ says Jared, ‘please, _please_.’

‘Fucking – begging for it,’ says Richard, ‘walking around the office with a plug stuffed inside you because you can’t even, even wait for it,’ and he grabs at the plug again, ‘fucking….greedy little hole.’

Jared bucks and writhes, alight with shame and a hot crawling pleasure. Richard continues ‘but so long as you’re _discreet_ , nobody knows, yeah Jared?’

And he grabs the plug and pulls it out. Jared’s strangled whine turns into a high ecstatic breath as Richard’s cock slides against Jared’s cleft.

‘Get fucked,’ says Richard, ‘fucking…pounded out….like you’ve been begging for, so hard you can’t see straight, till you’re fucking shaking, fucking dripping with me, but you’re _discreet_ , yeah, so, so good, so, so fucking _sweet_.’

Jared nods violently, shoving himself back at Richard, spreading his knees and presenting himself, dimly aware of the abject spectacle he’s making of himself but too far gone to care. Please, please, _please_.

Richard swallows behind him. ‘I can,’ he says, rubbing his forehead against Jared’s back, ‘I can – I wanna – I can fuck you.’

‘Please,’ says Jared, and it’s all he can do to keep from wailing the word, ‘please.’

‘Yeah,’ says Richard, ‘yeah,’ and his cock snags against Jared’s hole.

And Jared keens, he can’t stop himself, or from chasing the touch when Richard pulls away.

‘But,’ says Richard, ‘you gotta – you gotta – tell me, Jared. You gotta,’ and his other hand returns to Jared’s cock, ‘I wanna hear you.’

Jared’s hand tightens on the shelf. ‘Richard, they’ll hear.’

‘Yeah,’ says Richard, that familiar dark gleam in his voice, ‘yeah, they will.’

He thumbs at Jared’s hole, and Jared shakes, melting against that sweet eager inexpert touch, throttling his moan.

‘Please, Richard, I can’t - ’

‘Let me,’ says Richard, and Jared can hear the strain in his voice, ‘baby, let me. I see you and I wanna – fuck, I don’t even, like, how is this, how are you here, with me, I wanna, let me, let me…’

And he feeds Jared his cock, just the tip, and Jared gasps and clenches around him.

‘Let me,’ he whispers, ‘fuck, Jared, I wanna, don’t you, let me, oh shit, shit, I wanna fucking…Christ, just, just fill you up.’

‘Yes,’ says Jared, ‘oh, Richard, please, please…’ he drops his hand and nips at his wrist desperately.

‘No,’ says Richard, on a snap, ‘no, you don’t, you’re not gonna,’ and he taps at the bottom of Jared’s spine. ‘If you’re not gonna - ’ and he pulls out.

‘No,’ says Jared, ‘no, Richard, no, darling, please, no – ‘

And a thin hand grips Jared’s chin, turning him insistently towards Richard. ‘I can’t _hear_ you.’

And Jared can feel the mist descending. He watches himself, like a genie in a machine, slip free of every single one of the bonds he’s ever knit for himself. One hand shoots out, holding Richard’s upper thigh in a grip so tight he can hear Richard’s gasp.

‘Mine,’ he hears himself say, shaking but determined.

Richard exhales.

His hand moves around to Richard’s cock, hard and straining. He squeezes again, hard, and Richard whimpers.

‘Mine,’ he says again, and Richard nods.

Richard crowds back in, eager, impatient, and Jared groans as he enters him.

‘Yes,’ he says, as his head drops forward, ‘yes, yes, _more_.’

He feels Richard’s curls brushing his back as he nods, and then – oh, then Richard gives him what he’s been promising.

Jared clenches and pulls and wheedles and cajoles and demands – demands! – hoarsely and plaintively and long. He hears himself, a dithyramb of _yes_ and _more_ and _harder_ and _give it to me_ and _there_ and _now_ and _yes yes_ yes.

Afterwards, he feels Richard’s hands passing nervously up and down his flank. ‘Jared?’

Jared’s knees buckle and he slips down to the floor. Richard drops down opposite him, face swimming before Jared’s eyes. ‘Jared? Jared, you OK? Shit, shit, I didn’t want to – fuck, please, please say something.’

Jared reaches for Richard, pulling him on top of him, an inelegant sprawl. Richard huffs out a relieved breath, hands fluttering on Jared’s back.

‘Richard,’ says Jared, at length, ‘they’ll – darling, they’ll have heard.’

Richard lifts his head and gives Jared a brief, tingling kiss. ‘Yeah.’

* * *

 

Jared does his best to smooth himself down before they leave the supply closet. Richard is entirely and superbly indifferent, though Jared supposes he’d be the same if he too looked like an undiscovered Botticelli.

When they come out, the office is empty – save for Gilfoyle, Dinesh and Monica.

‘We sent them away,’ says Monica before Jared can ask, ‘before we had a class action on our hands.’

Jared blushes. So does Richard, though there’s a smug little grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

‘So, you and Ghost of Christmas Past, eh, Dick?’

‘You and Jared,’ says Dinesh, ‘the two of you are fucking?’

‘Dinesh, I understand that your adventures in futility and disappointment haven’t prepared you to recognise the sounds of pleasure, but even you have to realise that was a redundant fucking question.’

‘Fuck you, Gilfoyle, I meant whether this is like a regular thing or what.’

‘Boyfriends,’ says Richard. ‘We are. Jared. Me. We. Boyfriends. So.’

Jared’s head snaps to look at Richard, who is looking defiant and gleeful right until he feels Jared’s gaze on him. At which point he says ‘oh. Oh, shit. Shit. I don’t – Jared, we don’t have to – fuck, forget that last part, Dinesh, I didn’t - ’

‘Oh, Richard,’ says Monica.

‘Did you not,’ says Dinesh, ‘talk to Jared about that before springing that on - ’

‘Fuck,’ breathes Richard, ‘fuck, fuck, Jared, look, I didn’t - ’

And Jared bends forward and catches Richard’s mouth in a kiss.

When they break away, Richard’s eyes are shining.

‘We’ll have to revise the workplace harassment policy,’ says Monica. ‘And Richard? Jared? I’m happy for you two, but no more tying up common areas while you two - ’

‘Netflix and Chill?,’ supplies Gilfoyle.

Monica rolls her eyes. ‘While you two fuck. Do that at home.’

‘Particularly since you sound like fucking banshees,’ observes Gilfoyle.

‘Both of you,’ says Dinesh.

‘But especially Jared.’

‘Sorry, Mon,’ says Richard, and he looks so delighted with himself and Jared is so entirely and unbearably in love, ‘my baby’s a screamer.’

‘Only for you,’ says Jared, because accuracy is important.

He feels Richard’s hand in his and thinks that being secreted is good, but being shown off is better.

And only dimly registers Monica saying ‘Call me ‘Mon’ again and I’ll chop your balls off.’

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks as ever to the talented and gracious joycecarolnotes, beefmaster and not_the_marimba for looking over!
> 
> Come yell with me on tumblr, if you're so inclined! My handle is itsevidentvery.


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